Special Needs Malnourished elder piggy

I'd be leery of doing that for fear of inducing bladder stones. Has she been getting any timothy pellets? And what quality of hay and pellets did she have?

failur3byh3art said:

I'm currently taking care of a malnourished adult and want to know if alfalfa pellets would be dangerous. So far she's responding well, pooping (solid) and peeing ok. But she's very boney and at times puffs up and looked hunched over. She's currently got an appointment today to check for anything else other than malnourishment. It's so cruel how some people can neglect guinea pigs but I'm taking this one under my care. So far her diet is green/red leafys, yellow bell peppers, cucumber (not alot) and I read on guinea lynx alfalfa hay can be a small solution towards malnourished adults. However, since all my girls are in their adult stages I don't have alfalfa hay on hand. I have left over recently stored fresh alfalfa pellets since I adopted a baby 4 months ago. Would this be fine to feed her for now until any improvements show?

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I wouldn't feed alfalfa based pellets to adult guinea pigs since it's high in calcium; especially if they're hunching since that could be a sign of stones. Oat hay is fattening so you might want to offer some of that.

From my understanding she was not given Timothy pellets. And the hay given time her was of the Kaytee Timothy brand which isn't very good. But the looks of her and how slow she eats compared to my 2-3 year Olds tells me she either got pushed to the side or simply didn't get enough food. I'm actually worried for this one. She's possibly 5 years old but has the signs of a very elderly piggy. Her back side is easily shown to be boney and feeling her body you can feel her ribs/spine. But surprisingly enough she moves around, seems to enjoy eating and drinking water, and going to the bathroom normally. I've taken a look at her nose to check for discharge of any sort as well as listen carefully to her breathing. Everything seems fine but still I'm taking her to see if there are anything else that may factor in to her health. It's scary to me since none of my girls are like this so the first thing that ever came to mind was *give her a sandwich stat!* (of course that means give her lettuce,bell peppers and any other viable piggy treats

pinky said:

I wouldn't feed alfalfa based pellets to adult guinea pigs since it's high in calcium; especially if they're hunching since that could be a sign of stones. Oat hay is fattening so you might want to offer some of that.

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Ok. If that's the case I'll avoid alfalfa pellets alltogether. Where might I be able to find oatpellets? This elderly lady needs to put on some pounds.

failur3byh3art said:

Ok. If that's the case I'll avoid alfalfa pellets alltogether. Where might I be able to find oatpellets? This elderly lady needs to put on some pounds.

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Not oat pellets. Oat hay. Oxbow sells it.

Oh I'm sorry I completely misread your post! (I work graveyard shift so ive yet to sleep!) I'll pass by a well known oxbow market today and see if I can find some. Thank you for your replies. I hope I can nourish this one back to health and I'll post updates when I can.

My guess is that she'll put on weight under your good care. Slowly, of course, because all adult pigs gain slowly, and senior ones more slowly than younger adults. Just concentrate on making sure she gets good stuff, and plenty of it.

failur3byh3art said:

Oh I'm sorry I completely misread your post! (I work graveyard shift so ive yet to sleep!) I'll pass by a well known oxbow market today and see if I can find some. Thank you for your replies. I hope I can nourish this one back to health and I'll post updates when I can.

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I get up at 3:15 a.m. on the days I work so I'm often brain dead when I'm on here.....

Yeah >< I hear ya. I'm brain dead as of now. I'm going to get a few hours in then head off to get oat hay. Thank you both batters and pinky for your replies! Also I guess it's a good thing. I've given her a decent amount of veggies the past 20 minutes since Ive made my post and she's not only eaten it all but she no longer looks puffed and has launched a barrage of poop on my bed(oh goodie. But what I do for them..). I guess it's a good sign. Poop looks ok. Before she had hard poops but now they look very normal.

If you can't find oat hay, you can pulverize a teaspoon or so of rolled oats (think Quaker Oatmeal, not the quick-cooking kind) and sprinkle it on her veggies.

Would oxbow critical care help maybe?

CC will help. It's got a good bit of calcium in it, so you don't want to overdo it.

And my theory, for what it's worth, is that natural sources of minerals are better than additives to commercial food.

I think, if you've got a definitely sick pig that's not eating, or if the pig needs to gain weight in a hurry (if it needs surgery, for example, but its weight is too low), CC is the best choice for putting weight on. Otherwise, if you can entice the pig to eat something that's going to add a few grams, food is the better way to go.